Hitomi's Return
by anime animal
Summary: After three years without him, Hitomi sets events in motion that will bring her back to Van, but will trekking through the Amazon in search of the ruins of Atlantis be enough?
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: If I owned Escaflowne, Van would be my own private little slave doing whatever I desired and chauffeuring me to sc 0 6 pt 6 pt 0 

Disclaimer: If I owned Escaflowne, Van would be my own private little slave doing whatever I desired and chauffeuring me to school everyday on the back of Escaflowne. Hitomi would be used as a means of cheating on math tests and Merle would be used to annoy everyone I know with cat allergies. Be very thankful that I don't own them for the good of mankind.

Hitomi's Return

By anime animal

Prologue

"Kansaki, you're not being paid to sit on your butt all day drinking coffee! Get out here now!"

Hitomi sighed and rolled her eyes, putting down the cracked porcelain mug and heading out into the blistering heat of the midday sun. She wasn't being paid to be there, it was a means of getting away from life back home and a way of hopefully returning to _him. She missed Van with every fibre in her body, every second of the day she prayed for a brief moment with him again and for what? A mere glimpse of him, not even a word exchanged between them or an embrace. The annoying little voice in her head spoke constantly in smug little tones the old lie of 'absence makes the heart grow fonder'. That wasn't true, it was more like 'absence makes the heart yearn to see him again and do things that should not even be mentioned by respectable young ladies'. The dreams didn't help matters either. She clearly needed to get a boyfriend or something to help her release some of those pent up hormones. But how exactly could she get a boyfriend if absolutely nobody met her extremely high standards? So far, there were only three qualifications for any guy who wanted to date her:_

1. They had to have black hair, the scruffier the better.

2. They had to have big brown eyes, with the black hair falling in them most of the time.

3. Their name had to be Van Fanel and they had to be the half-Draconian king of a country named Fanelia.

Other than that, it was all good. No-one fitted the criteria so far, and that was a good thing because she didn't want anyone other than Van.

"Slacking off again?" A cheerful voice asked her as she made her way to the site.

Catriona McCabe, Hitomi's tent mate, was reading maps by the tent. As always, she looked a picture of elegance, her long red hair kept off her face by an electric blue bandana as opposed to being damp with sweat like so many others on the expedition. 

"No, I've been working all morning, it's just the boss who hasn't been working." Hitomi said sullenly.

As the only person on the site who had spoken Japanese, Hitomi and Catriona had become firm friends and spent most of the time bitching about the other workers. As the only girls on the team, they were subjected to cat calls and wolf whistles frequently until Catriona had yelled at them with claims that she was engaged to a six foot eight rugby player which had shut them up instantly. Hitomi had secretly blessed that rugby held such an influence on the English archaeological team who she was currently spending the year with. Of course as her excuse, she had told them all that her father was a sumo wrestler.

Catriona sipped from a bottle of mineral water and offered one to Hitomi who declined.

"Do you reckon we're ever going to get to these ruins?" She sighed in exasperation. "The boss is living in a fantasy world. Everyone knows it's just a myth..."

Hitomi smiled secretly.

_If only she knew..._

Chapter 1 coming soon!__

A.N: I'll do Chapter 1 if people want me too. You know what to do!


	2. Discovery

Chapter 1: Discovery

Hitomi trekked wearily through the rainforest, her feet aching, her back aching, her head aching and her anti-perspirant rendered entirely useless. She wiped the damp hair away from her face and looked across at the sweating pigs next to her and then at Catriona, looking hot and flushed.

"This... is... exhausting." She sighed, reaching for a fifth bottle of mineral water.

Hitomi joined her friend by reaching for a bottle of Evian.

"Think of the calories we're burning."

Catriona smiled and sat down on a tree stump on seeing that the rest of the team were doing the same thing.

"Yeah, at least we'll be able to impress the guys with our non-existent stomachs after all else has failed."

Hitomi looked at her strangely.

"You mean you're not engaged to a rugby player?"

"In my dreams." Catriona sighed. "God, I thought you knew that was a joke!"

Hitomi shook her head.

"No, I thought you were serious."

Catriona sighed and took another swig of water.

"Well I was about a year ago, but then the bastard jilted me the week before the wedding for my best friend."

"You're kidding me?" Hitomi breathed.

She shook her head sadly.

"Nope, I've sworn off men until I find a knight in shining armor who's going to sweep me off my feet. So never."

"Geez, I know how you feel." Hitomi sighed. "I had this huge crush on this senior on the track team at school and I figured he liked me until I realised that my best friend liked him too."

"So what did you do?"

"I realised that I was in love with someone else." She whispered.

Catriona smiled.

"Harsh. Didn't he feel the same?"

"No, he loved me too."

"What was he like?"

Hitomi smiled and recapped her water bottle.

"He was an angel."

No harm in telling the truth she supposed.

"So what was the problem?"

Catriona was on tenterhooks, hardly believing the love story that was unfolding. She had always been a hopeless romantic, it had always been her dream to fall for a dashing knight or prince. 

"We couldn't see each other anymore." Hitomi said quietly. "It was so stupid, it took me so long to realise that I loved him and then we..."

_Why am I talking about Van to someone I've only known for three weeks?_

"It doesn't matter."

Catriona shrugged and took another drink of water.

"Let's make a pact OK?"

"OK." Hitomi said, brightening.

"As women, we have our standards and we won't settle for anything less than knight in shining armour or your angel."

A smile spread across Hitomi's lips and she grinned.

"If I ever find him again, then I am sure I can get you an introduction with a knight."

***

"Ooh look, there he is!"

A crowd of girls began to swoon and sigh at the feet of the most desirable man in Fanelia. As he walked past them, Van rolled his eyes and pushed his messy black hair away from his eyes. He would be having none of this trouble if Hitomi were still there, partly because she would have been his wife by now and partly because he had no doubt that she would knock them flat. 

"Lord Van?"

He looked over his shoulder and smiled as Merle walked up to him. Not bounded. Walked. Her pink hair now fell down to her shoulders in a style reminiscent of Naria and Eria's and her mannerism had become a lot more refined. Well, she _was sixteen now._

"Are you _still thinking about Hitomi? Why don't you just go back to the Mystic Moon and get her if you're still that obsessed with her."_

Van smiled.

"Maybe I will, once all the building work has been finished and all the refugees have come back. Hitomi would understand."

Merle raised her eyes to the heavens.

"Oh for cryin' out loud Van! Don't you get it? Hitomi would hate to think that you're waiting for the _building to be finished before you go and sweep her off her feet. You gotta shower her with affection and flattery, didn't you take notes from Allen?"_

Van scowled.

"Why should I take notes on what Allen did? Did Hitomi end up marrying him? No. Did she end up kinda liking me 'cause I didn't..."

"Well she didn't after that time you said that you wanted her for her powers..."

Van glared at her and folded his arms.

"That was none of your business! Besides, I made it up to her by coming to the Mystic Moon and..."

"Sweeping her off her feet and carrying her back here?" Merle asked innocently.

Van opened his mouth to protest before shutting it and nodding. He shifted his weight uncomfortably.

"You see the thing is I..."

Merle grinned.

"You what?"

Van swallowed a large lump in his throat.

"Well I kinda think that I've lost the Drag Energist that powers Escaflowne and I can't go back to get her."

"YOU DID WHAT?!" Merle yelled, causing Van's admirers to fall over.

Van laughed nervously.

"Oh that is just terrific! What if Celena has a relapse and comes charging up here in that red Guymelef again?"

"She won't." Van said stubbornly.

"What are you gonna do about Hitomi?" Merle persisted.

"Sweep her off her feet and get her back." Van said wearily.

"But what have you got to do before that?"

"Look for my energist."

Van paused and stared at her.

"Can I ask Merle, when did you start giving the orders?"

"I err..."

"So _you go and find my energist."_

"Yes Lord Van."

Van watched her leave with a smug grin on his face.

"I love being King."

"KING VAAAAAAAAN!!!!"

He caught sight of his fan club running madly towards him.

"Maybe I don't."

******

"Too...hot...need...water..." Catriona gasped, hacking at greenery with a machete.

"We're almost there." Hitomi said, having picked up Catriona's fallen machete. "I know we're almost there."

"Hitomi, don't tell me that you actually believe that we're going to find the lost kingdom of Atlantis. Honestly girl, I thought you were a little more... oww!"

Catriona had tripped over a concealed brick.

"What the hell is a marble slab doing in the middle of the Amazon Rainforest?" She yelled, rubbing her ankle. "And what is with that weird writing?!"

Hitomi crouched down and looked at the incomprehensible scrawl on the marble.

"This is Atlantian script!" She whispered. "We must be near Atlantis!"

TBC

Chapter 1 complete! *phew* All done and dusted. Please review and tell me what you think.


	3. Ms Fennel

Disclaimer: Escaflowne belongs to Sotsu agency and Bandai. Sigh. Are those people brilliant or what? 

A.N: Ladies and Gentlemen, anime animal is alive and extremely apologetic for leaving everyone for so long without an update. The thing is that I have been experiencing a lack of Escaflowne because stupid Fox Kids hardly ever show it, and when they do it is usually when I have to be locked in my room at school doing homework, and then they change the schedule as soon as holidays start so there's _no Escaflowne. IT SUCKS!_

It's bloody hard to write something when you get to see so little of your characters, which is why Van was so out of character in the last chapter. But that's about to change. As some of you may have noticed, the story has changed from romance/humor to romance/action/adventure. This is because I have suddenly had a complete change in direction with the plot and was inspired to add new original characters which will hopefully make this worth reading, but don't despair, there will still be comic relief from quite a few of the characters and the chapters will be pretty lighthearted...

For the time being...

Chapter 2: Ms Fennel 

Hitomi sat cross-legged on her camp bed with a book in her lap whilst Catriona manically squirted their canvas living space with some kind of mosquito repellent. Every so often she would pause for breath whilst coughing violently before undertaking the process again. 

"Catriona, um, isn't it hazardous to inhale too much of that stuff?" 

Catriona shrugged and then zipped up the mosquito net. 

"OK so I'm overly paranoid but is that a bad thing? I mean I don't really want to go home with malaria!" 

Hitomi laughed softly to herself and then flopped back against her pillows. 

"Yeah, I guess that would be a problem, but then again you wouldn't want to die from choking on this stuff." 

Catriona glared and fell back onto her camp bed with a dramatic sigh. 

"Damn I'm tired. Jesus, how long did we actually work today?" 

"Seven hours, fifty six minutes and seventeen seconds." 

"You counted?" Catriona asked, sitting up and staring at her friend. 

"Nope. I just listened to the boss recording it in his log book." 

"He has a log book?" 

"Yeah." 

"What for?" 

"To tell his boss what's going on." 

"Ah, so this would be the elusive Ms Fennel we've been told about but haven't yet met," Catriona commented. 

"Mmm hmm," Hitomi replied sleepily. 

She yawned loudly and then sighed. 

"I think I'm ready to go to sleep." 

Catriona shrugged. 

"Whatever you say Miss Antisocial. I just thought you might want to know the latest gossip…" 

Catriona babbled on without noticing that Hitomi's attention was fixed on the stars that were visible from the tent window. Most of the time she found it hard to believe that those self same stars were those that she had seen from Gaea, but it eased the ache in her heart to remember that no matter how far away from Van she was, the same stars were watching over them. 

****** 

Van missed her. 

Merle hated to state the obvious but it was true. 

Van missed Hitomi. 

After several hours of the pair of them searching, neither had been able to find Escaflowne's energist. It had vanished off the face of Gaea. Merle still remembered the look on Van's face, it was one of total hopelessness. Even now, as he lay on his bed staring out of the window at the Mystic Moon, she was certain that his face still held the same expression. 

"You can come in if you want to," Van said quietly. 

Merle jumped and then tentatively padded into his room, sitting down beside him on the broad canopy bed. 

"Whatcha thinking about?" Merle asked, knowing full well what the answer would be. 

"Three guesses," Van replied dryly. 

"Sorry." 

The uncomfortable silence drew out for several minutes until Van sighed heavily. 

"Do you think that she still thinks about me?" 

Merle blinked and stopped cleaning her paws, which she had begun to do to fill the silence. 

"Who, Hitomi? Of course she does!" 

Van murmured something that Merle couldn't hear and then rolled over to face his friend. 

"You know, I would go to the ends of Gaea and back again just to have one more moment with her, just to hold a conversation with her, to just sit down next to her and have the chance to tell her how I really feel about her." 

"And how do you really feel about her?" Merle asked. 

Van sighed. 

"I think I loved her." 

Merle looked at him sadly and then sidled up to him, resting her head on his shoulder. 

"You know, I think she probably felt the same way. Maybe she still does." 

"And I'll never get the chance to find out," Van replied glumly. 

His hand went to the pendant around his neck and he subconsciously held the small pink gem in his fist. 

Three years had passed since she'd been on Gaea, two since he'd last seen her through a glimpsed vision provided by the pendant. She'd been sitting on a beach with her friend (the one who had been with her on that fateful day) sprawled out beside her with her eyes closed. Hitomi had looked up and smiled, almost as if she'd known he was there and had said something. He'd not been able to hear it. 

But since then, there had been nothing. It was as if Hitomi had vanished off the face of the Mystic Moon. 

****** 

Balthazar sat back against his cushions, his wizened old hands gripping the arms of his lavish seat as he surveyed the activity outside. The people busied themselves with their daily lives, moving back and forth between house and house, working as their ancestors had done so many years before. Only Balthazar held memory of those days when their race had held such power that it terrified men to speak of it. He had been only a boy when their city had been destroyed, he still remembered with fear the day the citadels fell, remembered escaping with the survivors and taking refuge, remembered witnessing the tribe grow to try and regain its former glory.

The age of his people was long gone, the age when they had held power was dead. The day he had realised that he was the only one who remembered their power was a day that had saddened his heart.

"Father, does something trouble you?"

His eldest son, Perithous, entered his chambers, a handsome man in his early fifties and a prime example of what their race should embody. He too had fathered fine sons, the youngest being Ixion, a handsome, headstrong youth who would have been a credit to their people had he not held within him an unchecked anger. It was this boy who troubled him the most.

"Just thinking of the old times my son. It is all the old can do these days."

Perithous looked at his father critically.

"You were thinking of the second coming, weren't you?"

Balthazar sighed and rested a weary head on his hand.

"There were days when that was all that was on my mind. Now however I am not sure where our place is in the world. Maybe we are best suited to remain as we are, perhaps we are destined to gain power but I just cannot be sure any more."

Perithous nodded his silver streaked gold head and regarded his father sagely.

"You speak of Ixion."

Balthazar could not meet his son's gaze.

"I think that perhaps I do. You know your son, you know how he can be."

"Is that what you're worried about?"

"We cannot know for sure what his passions will bring to our people, someday his anger may prove to be a useful asset but for now, I fear that it will only bring to the clan more suffering than that which we have already endured. It has already been foretold that one of our line will bring great destruction."

"But one will bring great prosperity," Perithous argued. "How can you be sure that Ixion is not he?"

Balthazar's gaze shifted to the Mystic Moon and then back to his son's face.

"I cannot."

******

Hitomi sighed and burrowed deeper into the warmth of her sleeping bag. Despite the irritably hot and sticky days, the jungle nights proved to be long and cold, leading many of the explorers to be thankful for their extra layers of clothing and thick fibre filled bedrolls. Hitomi was certainly glad her mother had been so insistent on buying her a good sleeping bag before she left.

At the thought of her home, she sighed and tried to blot out the painful memories of those last few days. All the shouting, and the crying.

Her parents' marriage was in trouble, Hitomi had known that for a while now. It wasn't because they had fallen out of love with each other, she knew that too, but it was because things had been so fraught that they had forgotten how to love. And the whole situation was messing up _everything_. The constant arguing had led to her being jumpy and short tempered herself, and her pain deepened when her attempts to contact Van were consistantly fruitless, no matter how urgent or frenzied her efforts had been. Her little brother Mamoru's grades had started to decline, and then letters came home saying that he had been skipping class. When confronted with it, he had flown totally off the handle and had run away. It had taken Hitomi five hours driving around town to find him, and then a further three trying to persuade him to come home, yet despite his promise to her he had yet to rectify his behaviour. 

That was why she was leaving.

The pressure had become too much for her to bear, and she knew that if she stayed then her life would adopt the same downwards spiral as the others until she too would have no control over herself. As much as she loved them, her family were suffocating her. And then her opportunity to escape came to her while reading the paper one morning. The expedition deep into the heart of the Amazon Rainforest to find Atlantis' remains. Her father had scoffed it off as fancy, Hitomi had regarded it as fate. It was the solution to all her problems, a way back to Van and a way to bring her tattered family back together. By becoming lost in the jungle, she hoped that the grief of losing her would bring her parents back together, and the shock of her disappearence would bring Mamoru back to earth with a bang. Her constant efforts to make everyone but herself happy would finally pay off; she would be reunited with Van.

Of course, she was going to miss them terribly. Her parents, Mamoru, Yukari and Amano, but they would survive. She knew that the last two would be alright, they were so heavily in love with each other that Hitomi would often look in on them in envy, thinking about what she could have had, what she had given up.

She wasn't going to give up on that now, that was for sure. If this worked, if there was some way that she could use the ruins of Atlantis to get her back to Gaea then she'd find it.  

******

Ms Valerie Fennel sat with her hands in her lap as her private helicopter flew over the leafy green expanse below her. Sighing to herself, she picked up her handbag and rifled through its contents until her long, manicured fingers made contact with what it was she was searching for. Smiling to herself, she closed the bag again and rested it on her lap. She pressed her forehead against the glass and stared out below her. 

_We're close. I can feel it. _

As if the pilot had read her mind, he turned around and smiled at his passenger. 

"Not long to go now madam." 

Valerie smiled and clasped her hands together, drumming her fingertips on her knuckles. The forest changed from an expansive green ocean to a vast leafed canopy. The clearing where the helicopter was scheduled to land was lined with her employees, obviously ordered to greet her on their best behaviour. She rolled her eyes and fastened her bag, preparing herself for landing. 

This was certainly an experience she was looking forward to, particularly when she knew what the recent discovery could lead to for her. There was more to her motives than just the riches and acclaim she would get for funding this successful expedition, her reasons were less selfish than that yet more selfish than the strong desire to solve one of history's greatest mysteries for the people of Earth. These motives were not something she could explain to others though, she knew that no-one would understand something as farfetched as what she was proposing.

_Maybe not as extreme as no-one..._

She checked her thoughts then, as the helicopter landed as she was helped from the machine by her pilot. Her eyes made a brief scan of those she had hired and spotted who she was looking for.

Hitomi Kansaki.

_to be continued_


End file.
